The equestrian team made up for weeks of lost practice time in order to place third in its first show this past weekend at Hartwick. The Red finished with 37 points, just two behind first-place Skidmore (39) and one behind Colgate (38).
Due to the Ivy League’s seven-week rule, the Red was unable to practice for the first three weeks of the semester. Since Cornell is the only Ivy team in its Region, most of its competition over the weekend had been practicing for a month prior to when the Red opened practice.
“With the new seven-week rule for all Ivy League schools, we did not start practice until much later this year. We lost three weeks of practice and this could have been a hindrance, but the girls have been working very hard towards their goal of the Regional championship and it showed today,” wrote head coach Chris Mitchell in an e-mail.
Junior Emi Knafo was the first Cornell rider to qualify for Regionals, with a second-place finish in the advanced walk-trot-canter. She was the only Cornellian to compete in the event.
Classmate Erin Goodrich garnered first place in the beginner walk-trot-canter, and senior Kim Huppe followed with a first-place finish in the walk-trot. Junior Alaina Hoffman and sophomore Gillian Pech won their classes in the intermediate and novice fences. Freshman Megan Gates began her Cornell career with a win in the intermediate flat.
The tri-captains, seniors Julie Canter and Kate Cornell and junior Jeannette Pettit, also performed well on Saturday. After a fifth-place finish in the open fences, Canter responded with second place in the flat. Cornell did the reverse, being the runner-up in the fences and finishing fifth in the flat. Pettit came in third in the fences and sixth in the flat.
The tight competition between the top-three schools was not echoed throughout the rest of the field. Morrisville was fourth with 29 points, followed by Hartwick (28), Rensselaer (24), Ithaca (23), Binghamton (19), Siena (19), and Cobleskill (9).
“We are very proud of this team, as they never gave up the fight throughout the entire show. This is what we believe will be the trademark of this team to accomplish our goal,” Mitchell said.
The Red competes again this Saturday at the Morrisville show.
Archived article by Amanda Angel